Forming shapes out of snow to resemble a man is, of course, an ancient art. Problems related to this often child centered activity include the consistency of the snow, the quantity of available snow, and fatigue resulting from lifting heavy snow. Numerous prior attempts have been made to solve these and related problems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,072, issued Jul. 4, 2000, teaches the use of a “snow swirl” to vertically lift now or sand into a free standing compressed column as illustrated by FIGS. 3A, B, C, and D. U.S. Pat. No. 6,176,464B1, issued Jan. 23, 2001, teaches the use of three globular shaped molds 100, 100′, and 100″ (FIG. 1), held together with fasteners 140, for filling with snow. Latches 108, 108′, and 108″ are then released to remove the globular molds and reveal the formed snowman replica. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,451, issued Jan. 26, 1999, a series of panels 10 are interconnected and filled with snow 30 to form the shape of a dome (FIG. 6). The panels are then removed and the snow dome can then be hollowed out to form a snow shelter (FIGS. 12 and 13). Additional descriptions of snow molds for fabricating traditional snowmen include U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,415, issued Dec. 22, 1998, which teaches a figurine 10 which can be the shape of a snowman, the figurine being a split open configuration (FIG. 5) for convenient snow removal after filling with snow (FIG. 6). Similarly U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,926, issued May 27, 1997, teaches a snowman mold with catch secured base 11, torso 12, and head member 13 forming an integral mold cavity 10A (FIG. 2). Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,341, issued Aug. 14, 1979, teaches a three section (17, 18, 19—FIG. 1) bipartite mold for fabricating a snowman, with snow packing facilitating openings 37, 38 (FIG. 2) in sections 18, 19. And U.S. Pat. No. 3,059,279, issued Oct. 22, 1962, teaches a multi-bipartite sectional interlocked snow mold (FIG. 2) secured by snap fasteners 50–52 (FIGS. 3–4). Additionally, a mold for an adjustable cake-pan is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 993,914, issued May 30, 1911, which teaches varying the diameter of a body portion of a bake pan for varying cake sizes.
While the above noted disclosures provide useful methods and devices related to molding snow into enjoyable shapes, they do not envisage the simplicity and economy of the present invention.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a snow mold for quickly and easily fabricating a snowman.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a snow mold of simple construction for use by children.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive snow mold.
Yet another object is to provide a snow mold that is quickly and conveniently stored when not in use.
A further object of the invention is to provide a multi-purpose form for shaping a variety of simple forms in moldable materials.